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Published: July 23rd 2010
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We arrived in Munich just in time for a walking tour (note for future travellers that New Europe walking tours are excellent. They’re in lots of cities and work on a tips only basis). We saw all the main sights in the city area -Frauenkirche (Church of our lady), memorial to the German Resistance, Marienplatz and the glockenspiel, the Hofbrauhaus and the old and the new town halls to name a few. We had a laugh walking down Maximilian Straβe where all the rich people shop and they stand out with their sports cars, orange tans and bling! Our tour guide told us that the locals call these people schmicky mickeys!
It was a really hot day so we thought the next stop had to be a biergarten! We headed to the Viktualienmarkt which is a fresh produce market plus a stack of beer and sausage vendors. We shared a table with some locals and enjoyed a maβ (pronounced like mass (a stein)), and a plate of sausages, sauerkraut and pretzels - yum! In biergarten heaven the quote of the holiday so far was announced “ I could live on beer, pretzels and sausages forever!!!!” - but which one of
us said it? Answer to come in our next blog!
It was a fabulous afternoon sitting in the shady and lively biergarten. We then decided to walk over to the Englischer Gardens. This is a massive garden and is one of the largest city parks in Europe. It has a river running through it, lots of open space and a couple of biergartens to make it complete! The park was really lively with lots of picnickers, people playing Frisbee and hippys bongo drumming amongst the daisies. Our walk had made us thirsty again so we enjoyed some more maβs in the Chinesischer Turn biergarten. This is an awesome place and we ended up being regular patrons during our stay in Munch. There are a few vendors and hundreds of picnic tables out in the open. You can BYO food or get yummy meals there (very much a meat and potato base!). It’s lots of fun and we chatted to some really nice people.
After our walk through the gardens and biergarten break we went back into town and came across a crazy wedding parade going into the Hofbrauhaus (most famous beer hall in Munich). There was a band
and everyone was wearing traditional outfits. It was quite a spectacle! Bavaria is definitely different to the rest of Germany that we’ve seen and they are very proud of their culture. Lots of people wear traditional clothes and we’ve seen some dancing in the square and on the mall. There is a fantastic atmosphere in Munich!
The following morning we went for a walk back to the Englischer gardens. We had heard there was a special area of the park for liberated sunbaking. There didn’t seem to be any particular area for this as we walked past many nude sunbathers! Apparently the thing to do here is to take the Saturday paper to the park and get your kit off! Unfortunately we couldn’t find a newspaper that wasn’t in German so couldn’t join in... ! Instead we ended up back at the biergarten and enjoyed scrumptious roast port (Schweinshaxe) (the crackling was amazing!) washed down with liquid gold. The gardens are HUGE so you definitely need a bike to see most of it. We did our best but always ended up at a biergarten enjoying a beverage and pretzel or 3.
We could have stayed in the biergarten
all day but thought we’d better see more of the city! There was a lot of action - dancing, bands and market stalls everywhere we looked! We aren’t sure if this is a weekend thing or it could be the Munchens getting ready to celebrate their 852nd birthday? We had a wander through the Hofbrauhaus but were too full to partake. Apparently the glockenspiel is the 2nd most disappointing attraction in Europe (after the Prague astronomical clock) but we still had to watch it. It definitely goes on a bit too long and the bells are a little cringe worthy after a while but you still have to see it!
We then spent some very unexciting but much needed time at the laundromat. Richie was having beer withdrawals by this stage so had a beer whilst waiting for the washing. He wasn’t the only one either! They’re very relaxed about drinking here - we’ve never had our ID checked, you can buy drinks absolutely anywhere and drinking in public is totally acceptable. Yet we have not seen one fight!
That night we watched some of the world cup in the pub and danced our hearts out in the rain
when we found a free concert in Marienplatz. The band was playing awesome (and slightly daggy) covers. It was lots of fun!!
The next day was game day - i.e. Australia V Germany in the World Cup. We put on a brave face (temporary aussie tattoos on our cheeks) and our Aussie shirts!!! We enjoyed a beer in the Hofbrauhaus to start proceedings and got laughed at by all the German supporters. We were telling them that they had better watch out for the Socceroos, little did we know with the end result! After a beer and some banter we decided that the big screen at Englischer garden would be the ideal viewing location. On the way out we met some other patriotic Aussies so didn’t feel quite so silly! We arrived nice and early and got our litre of beer (maβ) and found great positions. The weather was looking ominous so we decided to stay under a tree to try and get some shelter. Before the game started we had a drizzle here and there, but nothing major. About 5 minutes before kick off the heavens opened but we decided to stick it out! We were cheering loud
early but got drowned out in the 8th minute by the Germans! It was all a blur after that, we cheered, but as you could imagine 2 aussies vs 1000 Germans in the rain sounds like this “ “ . At half time we re-assessed our situation - cold, losing the soccer and not a dry spot left on us. Like half the crowd we made up our minds to head to somewhere dry. In our case this was back to the hotel room. When we arrived back at the room the score was 3 - 0 and we didn’t even realise Cahill had been sent off, thanks German TV! All in all it was a good day, great atmosphere but a little wet! We also would have loved to see Australia win (or maybe just not lose so badly with a final score of 4 nil!) We will be in Luzern, Switzerland for the next game against Ghana so we’re looking forward to putting on our face paint again to support the Aussies!
The following morning we picked up a hire car (upgraded to an Audi A3 - thanks!) and headed south to Fussen. Bye Munich - thanks
for the good times!
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